A Conversation

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, he read aloud, wincing, as he handled the shirt on which the message was printed. You mean to say that even the smallest trifle of a thought has an effect somewhere? he continued. It cant be! he tossed the shirt away. Its a natural law, like the law of gravity she explained. When you drop something it falls. No ifs or buts about it, when you are irritated at someone, the effect carries through and comes back to you in a complete cycle; we are interconnected in more ways than we know. But what I think are my own private thoughts, how can they affect others? he was adamant. You know how a butterfly fluttering its wings in the Amazon can create ripples of the energy that can touch a glacier in the North Pole-- that is how it operates. Karma is generated through the act of the mind: thinking; the act of speech and actual physical activity she said, remembering what the Yoga teacher, Denise Lawrence had taught and its consequences can be either short, medium or long term she said. Yes, so when you lose your temper at someone, he is hurt by your anger and he can in turn expess this to another and this in turn generates another wave of

anger. At some point, in a roundabout way, it will come back to you, perhaps no longer as anger but in another form of negativity, having gathered momentum along the way. That is how it works she said. So you mean, we are in a web of action and interaction and reaction? And we are not even aware of this? he was perplexed now. Then I am trapped, I cant always control my temper . Everything we do has its consequence. Things we did in the distant past, even way beyond this birth, action we did when we were children or thoughts and words we expressed today, all these create a web of karma, and pay-off is inevitable, she said. That sounds depressing, is there no way out? he asked. Most people dont give it much thought ; there is good karma and we reap the harvest of the good we do. Then there are negative acts that create the karmic webs automatically. People wonder why they suffer . They do not realize they bring it upon themselves. But there is a way out-- to go beyond the web of the mindlessness; the automatic action and reaction. We need to be mindful of how we behave, and think and speak, all the time she spoke. The way to solve a problem is to get out of that web. That is tough! How do I get out of my thought patterns? This is me, I cant be otherwise he was frantic now. There is a wayand it can be simple.These thought and energy patterns have been there for a long, long time. They are called sanskaras and they imprison us. They get us to act a certain way, they attract certain events and people in our lives that further embed us into that karmic web. Meditation is the process that can free us from the web of thoughts she said. Meditation! Im no monk or hermit; Im normal!

Normally, you only use 10% of your brain its logical and reasoning functions. When you meditate you want to maximize on the 90% of your higher faculties and transcend physical limitations. Hey that sounds cool! Yes, turning down the volume on your left brain can be refreshing, letting go of those 35,000 or so thoughtsto get away from wants and needs and musts and should. First we sit and quiet down our senses, in a noise-free space. We allow ourselves to go into that space of stillness within that not even our thoughts can go into, she said. and what happens in that silent space? he was curious In that space we experience true freedom , away from the flurry of thoughts and action, we are out of the imprisoning box of our own mind she shared. In the depths of silence , in stillness, the Light can shine through. The Light is always there but our noise blocks it. And when the Light is allowed to shine through, in that silence, we are freed from the web, even for a brief moment she said. Silence can do that? he was incredulous. The Silence of the Mind is powerful, much more than you can ever imagine.It is here when the web breaks, we realize we are more than our body, in that space, we are only sparks of that Light, souls that connect to that Source of all Light. And all we do is sit in silence to access this Power? Hey ! That is COOL! Better than a good trip with some stuff. You mean thats all I have to do? And all that can happen? Oh more than all that will happen, if you do it constantly, your energy patterns will undergo a shift, away from all that karmic baggage. You will feel light when the meltdown happens and happier than ever. Fresh and sparkling thoughts will replace the worn out ones. Good things will come your way now that the blocks

start to crumble; the good things that were always there for you but were prevented from shining through.! Oh wow ! When do I begin ? he asks, picking up the karma shirt. NOW ! she replied. AGNES PRIETO